How Elmira Faculty Enrolled Their Greatest Class in 10 Years Regardless of FAFSA Fiascos and Campus Silos
Dennis Kelly has seen loads in his 30 years in larger schooling. He had success at a number of establishments—Cheyney College, Notre Dame College of Maryland, Cabrini College, Georgian Court docket, Marywood College, and Wilmington Faculty. His tenure at Wilmington was significantly notable, enrolling two of the biggest lessons within the school’s historical past, an accomplishment which led to awards from the Phi Theta Kappa Worldwide Honor Society, RNL, and others.
However even with three a long time of expertise, accomplishments, and awards below his belt, he confronted a frightening process when he arrived at Elmira College as their vp of enrollment administration in January 2024. “I needed to leap right into a scenario the place the category I inherited didn’t meet objective,” Kelly stated. “I had a precedence listing from the president and needed to rapidly tackle these considerations, get to know my workers, and cease a decline.”
Elmira is a small school in upstate New York. Based in 1855, it was the primary establishment to supply girls a collegiate schooling corresponding to male college students—a groundbreaking dedication to gender equality. Now coeducational, the faculty guarantees a deal with rigorous lecturers, small class sizes, and fostering a powerful sense of neighborhood amongst college students and school.
Nonetheless, like many small schools across the nation, it struggled in an more and more tough larger schooling setting. Kelly stepped into the center of a very difficult time for enrollment. “The category didn’t meet objective, and we weren’t taking sufficient deposits to hit objective. Soften was additionally going to harm. After which there have been all the issues with the FAFSA.”
Transferring ahead as an alternative of freezing with the FAFSA delays
For a lot of establishments of all sizes and kinds, the FAFSA disruptions significantly slowed enrollment momentum. As well as, Kelly realized when he began that he must rent a brand new director of monetary help as his present one was retiring, including an excellent larger diploma of problem to reaching enrollment success amid the chaos from the FAFSA modifications.
However Kelly and his Enrollment Administration Management (EML) group determined they weren’t going to let the FAFSA disrupt their engagement with college students. “We checked out our benefit and non-need methods and knew we may piece collectively 70 % of the equation whereas we had been ready. Slightly than be held again by these delays, we received aggressive and put collectively a plan for participating college students instantly. We may then fill in these FAFSA gaps later.”
Kelly and the EML carried out adeposit administration plan and monitored progress week by week to succeed in their targets. The faculty used RNL’s Advanced FinAid Solutions and labored with their RNL monetary help guide to search out extra productive methods to safe deposits. They discovered a cross-section of GPA and pupil want that resulted in 10 deposits alone—a big win for a smaller school like Elmira, particularly in a difficult monetary help local weather.
Elmira additionally partnered with excessive faculties and visited these faculties to extend engagement with college students. They added new methods equivalent to a digital orientation occasion for switch college students. They eliminated areas that weren’t producing enrollment (equivalent to one worldwide space). By being proactive and data-driven, the faculty was capable of hold its regular recruitment cycle on observe whereas monetary help was finalized. The one timeline adjustment was shifting June orientation to July in order that college students may come to orientation with their last monetary help awards settled.
“We began taking market share from different public establishments who had a tough time determining what they might do due to the FAFSA issues,” stated Kelly. “That constructed a number of inside momentum.”
Letting enrollment leaders shine whereas aligning silos towards enrollment targets
When Kelly arrived at Elmira, he discovered that the EML group was underutilized, and he believed they had been able to do extra. They had been additionally siloed amongst Admissions, Monetary Support, Institutional Analysis, Lecturers, Athletics, and Advertising. “These individuals by no means had a voice, however they needed to win,” Kelly stated. “They only wanted to be put able to win.”
Kelly aligned the departments and workers towards their widespread enrollment targets. He constructed a powerful partnership between the Workplace of Communications and Advertising and the Athletic workers, empowering the Athletics to have a larger function within the enrollment success of the faculty. He additionally had two distant workers members doing admissions operations and institutional analysis—uncommon for a small collegebut a testomony to having the best individuals doing the job, even when they weren’t bodily on campus.
As Kelly and the EML put methods into place, they met Mondays to overview their strategy and see the place they had been beginning to fill their class. Their RNL guide helped them analyze their information and optimize their methods, transferring his data and experience to the Elmira group within the course of. Later within the time period, when the group’s efforts translated into enrollment outcomes, the RNL guide offered them with certificates to have a good time their accomplishments.
A near-perfect enrollment for Elmira Faculty
The methods and efforts of the EML led to unbelievable enrollment outcomes. The category had 56 % extra freshmen than the 12 months earlier than, and transfers elevated 61 %. The category elevated by 100, a outstanding quantity for a school of Elmira’s dimension.
They achieved these historic enrollment outcomes whereas sustaining educational high quality and truly decreasing their low cost charge. In addition they had a low 9 % soften charge on a category with 100 extra deposits than earlier than. The consequence was the very best class Elmira had in additional than 10 years, and it additionally impacted different key areas, equivalent to residency on campus. By all measures, it was an infinite success—and Kelly and the EML completed it in six months.
Able to repeat their success
Kelly credit the EML’s onerous work and willingness to maneuver ahead early regardless of the FAFSA delays with Elmira’s success. He and his group refused to let these disruptions have an effect on their planning. “Give your individuals the instruments they should shine, empower them, have their backs, and allow them to have their second.”
Now, as they give the impression of being towards the following 12 months, Kelly is bound they’re set as much as proceed their success. After making extra enhancements and tweaking their mannequin, Elmira is off to an excellent begin for fall 2025. Extra importantly, the workers consider they may succeed, and their enthusiasm is contagious. “They know what profitable seems like now—the entire school does. That has ramifications throughout the campus, from enrollment to areas like development.”
Kelly summed up his recommendation with an airport analogy. “We’ve got extra planes on the tarmac, able to fly. We’re not counting on one airplane to do all of it, since you by no means need to have an airport with one airplane on the tarmac.”
